Apple iPhone kill switch engages blogosphere

By Davey Winder
Saturday, 09 August 2008 04:04

Mobility

There has been a veritable buzzing in the blogosphere, at least that part of it which covers all things Apple, as news emerges regarding the possibility of an Apple operated 'kill switch' for iPhone applications.

PC World said that if Apple "doesn't like an app it flips a 'kill switch' that zaps an unpalatable iTunes App off your iPhone in a heart beat."

This following on from the discovery by an independent iPhone developer who found an interesting line of code within the iPhone 2.0 software relating to the Core Location API.

Of course, Apple has always ensured it has a firm grip on the applications that can appear on your iPhone. Well, it would have if it were not for the various Jailbreak and Pwning tools that allow users to install whatever apps they want. Apple, on the other hand, will only allow those applications which it has authorised to be made available on the official Apple iTunes App Store.

It's a real problem for Apple, it can remove applications from the App Store if it decides it does not like them or they end up breaking the rules somehow. Indeed, this last week or so has seen the likes of NetShare and the I Am Rich app both vanish without trace.

The kill switch ideas is in a different league, it has been suggested. The thinking being that it enables Apple to remotely unauthorise applications that you have already downloaded and installed to your iPhone.

The developer who found it admits he knows very little about what it is or what it does, whether it is even active in fact. Apple, meanwhile, remains silent.

However, CNet has now reported that the iPhone blacklist is less of a fully blown blacklist and more a mechanism to keep rogue applications away from the Core Location API.

Quoting an anonymous but informed source within Apple, the report says that the company has "laid out strict policies for accessing the Core Location API over privacy concerns" which essentially means that it does not want some sloppily coded application handing out the user location willy nilly.

Which all sounds totally plausible, if not quite so exciting as a kill switch. Let's wait and see if Apple make an official statement over the weekend and put this rumour to rest once and for all, one way or the other...